(The following editorial appeared on the San Antonio Express-News website on June 13.)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Ignoring warning devices at railroad crossings is a dangerous practice and could prove costly.
Three dozen Bexar County motorists learned that firsthand last week as San Antonio Police Department officers and Union Pacific officials conducted a crackdown at railroad crossings across the county.
Each motorist was handed a traffic ticket carrying a $150 fine.
“It’s an eye-opener,” Police Sgt. Bill Morales told the Express-News. “People just don’t understand the dangers that they’re putting themselves into.”
This year alone, there have been five accidents and one death at local railroad crossings. There were five deaths and 32 injuries in 60 crashes at railroad crossings between 2000 and 2004.
Some of the more frequent traffic law infractions at railroad crossings, staff writer Patrick Driscoll reports, are driving around crossing arms or past flashers or idling over the tracks while waiting for a traffic signal.
Texas ranked at the top of the list of states in the number of collisions and injuries at railroad crossings last year. It was third in the number of fatalities.
The police crackdown on the railroad-crossing lawbreakers should help change those statistics.